Ready to sleep out?!

We are excited to announce that the Dreams Big Sleepout 2018 will take place on Saturday 24th November at Adams Park, thanks to Wycombe Wanderers Football Club. Registration is now open!

An allied event, the Marlow Big Sleepout 2018, also in support of Wycombe Homeless Connection, will take place in Marlow on Friday 23rd November. For information on the Marlow event, click here.

The Dreams Big Sleepout 2018

This is Wycombe Homeless Connection’s major fundraiser, a sponsored event to support the charity’s vital work. The event is supported by Dreams so that every penny raised will allow us to provide advice and support to people facing homelessness, particularly those who do not qualify for council temporary accommodation. In the last year, over 500 individuals have come to WHC for assistance.

Want to help? Register now to sleep out!

Follow the sleepout on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #WHCsleepout2018. Include this in your social media posts!!

Key points

This event is for over-12s only (those aged 12-17 must be with a responsible adult).

If you raise sponsorship, you can get one free ticket to the Wycombe Wanderers home game that day.

You should arrive at 6.15pm for a meal and the Big Quiz and auction; the last admission will be at 8pm.

People not sleeping out are welcome to support the event by joining the meal and the Big Quiz. Refer to the “Not sleeping out” section below.

Details

To take part in the Wycombe event at Adams Park, please read the information below then register using the link at the bottom.

This event is for over-12s only. People aged between 12 and 17 must be with a responsible adult; to provide proper supervision, there must be a maximum of two children per adult. Those with kids will be placed in a special family section.

Thanks to Wycombe Wanderers FC, if you raise sponsorship you will be able to receive one free ticket to the Wycombe Wanderers home game held on the same day, 24th November. You will be able to stay on for the sleepout.

The event will begin after the match at 6.15pm on Saturday evening. Food will be available from 6.30pm at £5 for Dreams Big Sleepout 2018 participants who pre-register to eat and pay for food during the registration process. The dish will be chilli, rice and sour cream, with a vegetarian option of quorn-based chilli, followed by ice cream. While it is served, there will be a Big Quiz from 7.00pm, free to sleepout participants. The winners of the quiz, and the biggest fundraiser, will get a chance to have a private behind-the-scenes tour of the home and away changing rooms, the Control Room and the Directors’ Boardroom! We will also auction the right to sleep on a bed donated by Dreams rather than on the ground.

The last admission will be at 8pm.

The sleeping area will be fully outdoors in the football stands. Most people will be under a roof, but maybe not everyone, so please plan accordingly.

Throughout the night, there will be access to toilets and hot drinks, and stewards will be on duty. In the morning, pastries and juice will also be available. If you have particular dietary requirements, please bring your own snacks. The event should be finished by 7am on Sunday morning.

Please help us to look after the Wycombe Wanderers football pitch: there will be no access to the pitch throughout the event. To keep everyone safe, due to risks presented by darkness, steps and hypothermia, this will be an alcohol-free (and obviously drug-free) event.

Registering to take part in the Sleepout

You need to complete a registration form, and then you will be taken to an Eventbrite page where you can, if you wish, sign up for the meal and the Big Quiz. Click here to register. This will open a new window. After registering, please return to this window to learn how to collect sponsorship below. Note: there must be a separate registration for each individual.

Not sleeping out? You can still join the meal and the Big Quiz

If you want to support Wycombe Homeless Connection but are not able to participate in the Dreams Big Sleepout 2018, you are welcome to join us for a meal and a chance to win the Big Quiz, for £15 including food! Please click here to book on Eventbrite.

Already registered to sleep out but now want to order food?

Collecting sponsorship for the Dreams Big Sleepout 2018

Wycombe Homeless Connection has set up an “event” on the Virgin Money Giving (VMG) website. Using the VMG site to collect donations saves work since it takes the donation immediately, avoids cash handling, reclaims Gift Aid where appropriate and transmits the proceeds directly to Wycombe Homeless Connection. As a non-profit organisation, VMG makes a small charge to cover all this, but using VMG is well worth it for the hassle it saves our treasurer!

You should set up your own “sponsor me” page on Virgin Money Giving in respect of this event. Then you can make your contacts aware of this page by email or social media. To set up an individual page, click here to go to the VMG home page (this opens a new window). At the top of the page (or in the menu), click “Fundraisers” then “Create a page”. It will ask you to set up a VMG account if you don’t already have one. Then it will ask “What are you doing?” – enter “Dreams Sleepout” then click on “The Dreams Big Sleepout 2018”. Answer “no” to the question “Have any of your selected charities contributed to the cost of your event?” and click “Create my page”. If you have any trouble, you can call Mark Dykes on 07801 179387.

It’s not necessary, but you can add photos or videos to your page. Set a realistic but worthwhile target. And then keep an eye on your sponsorship: once your total reaches your target, raise the target; the average donation is halved once a target is reached.

We hope that each participant will raise at least £200. So tell the world! Using your social media will increase the amount raised; LinkedIn and Instagram are particularly effective. The VMG site itself may offer help. You can give your supporters a link to your VMG page or when your contacts visit Virgin Money Giving, they will be able to search for it using your name. Finally, note that people who start fundraising 2-3 months before the event make 40% more than those who start within 6 weeks of the event.

To reach those not online, a printable sponsorship form can be downloaded by clicking here. If you use a paper sponsorship form, you can read how we will use your personal details here.

Wycombe Homeless Connection helps around 500 local people every year who face housing crisis, by offering a weekday advice, support and resettlement service, and also a January-March winter night shelter. All this costs about £240,000 each year, 95% of which comes from voluntary donations. Last year 94% of the charity’s expenditure went on providing services, so every contribution is put to good use. The numbers approaching us for help are at an all-time high. Please help us fight back!

Do something amazing - be part of the team that welcomes homeless individuals out of the cold this winter! There are vacancies for hosting, cooking, offsite help with laundry etc. Training is provided.

Related

Do something amazing - be part of the team that welcomes homeless individuals out of the cold this winter! There are vacancies for hosting, cooking, offsite help with laundry etc. Training is provided.

Do something amazing - be part of the team that welcomes homeless individuals out of the cold this winter! There are vacancies for hosting, cooking, offsite help with laundry etc. Training is provided.